Not only did I purchase and eat non-organic grapes, but I left dishes in the sink for an entire night, I pretty much risked my life to find parking at the mall on Saturday afternoon, and I let my Japanese-straightening miracle-worker douse my head with dozens of toxic chemicals.

Before: At the salon…

But all of these things paled in comparison to what else I (dumbly) did: I allowed my husband to get involved in planning our Christmas vacation.

Me:There certainly are but these are the most reasonable. Trust me, I’ve done my research.

Ali:But don’t I have status on USAir?

Me:Please Ali. Who has booked every single one of our trips for the 12 years we’ve been married? I think I know your status better than you do.

Ali:I very much doubt that.

Me:Well then by all means, go ahead and waste your Sunday afternoon.

After: At Wolfgang’s for my dad’s birthday.

And Ali did just that.

First he called his BFF at the American Express Travel to facilitate. Then his BFF conferenced in USAir. Then Ali turned up the volume on speakerphone so I too could enjoy the useless 48 minute conversation.

At the end of it all we agreed on the following:

USAir does not offer any convenient routes, at any convenient times, to any enjoyable destinations.

Ali has no status on USAir.

Virgin and Delta are the best of the worst.

And when it comes to travel-related decisions Ali should NOT question me.

Don’t you just live it when people find the need to heck up on things when they have no need or doubt you?
Ha.
When all is said and done I hope you do have marvelous travels, on whatever airline and wherever to decide to roam:)

Ameena, you are a beautiful woman. I love your hair. I’ve never flown either. I always fly Southwest. I’m not sure what we flew when we went to Europe, as I was seven weeks pregnant and sick and tired. So maybe we did fly one of these. Anyhow, I love you post as usual. I just love you. You have a way about you, it’s so unique, funny and you have a sarcastic charm. Is there such thing? Well, I guess so, since you have it…. 🙂 Love,

You made me laugh so hard when you wrote, “useless 48 min convo.” I don’t know what the hell is up with airline prices these days.. United is our hub and it is ridiculously overpriced unless you book way in advance. I would assume Virgin America is pretty good if it is anything like Virgin Atlantic, but I really believe domestic travel just sucks in general. International travel is way better. Excited to hear about your Christmas plans.
I’ve never tried Jap straightening, I’m scared I’ll lose the bounce in my hair.. and the thing is, I’ve always seen myself with lots of hair, so I don’t really know how I would look without it. Great photo of you 2 at dinner.

Lastly – I didn’t try the place you recom. in SFO because we were hanging out in the Wharf area and it was just for 1 day. Definitely next time, most of these places need resv. anyway. Thanks!

I chose NOT to live dangerously this weekend. I had enough living on the edge last month when I trusted someone in my zip code with scissors near my head. THIS weekend I drove an hour to the relative safety of a city with stylists that have ACTUAL experience to fix the disaster.
As for Ali there are 4 sweet words that make all the second-guessing worth it: I. Told. You. So.

Oh I am the exact opposite, I always leave travel arrangements to Glenn. I only like to be on the computer or phone if it’s fun, and dealing with travel arrangements doesn’t make the cut. You 3 are always on the go, it’s fun to read about all your adventures on your blog seeing as my travels take me only to Fresno 🙂 And going to the mall on a Saturday in December, oh my that is brave!

Talking about flights I’m about to shoot off to India shortly, but couldn’t resist commenting before I do go.

I think you should let Ali do some stuff by himself. Even if that means he messes them up – because eventually he will share some of the work you complain about. Besides, lets just say you suddenly had a ‘zombie’ day in which you couldn’t be asked to do anything – then at least, Ali can take over assuming he has been doing stuff in the past.

Love your hair, they look longer now. I love Virgin Atlantic, at least so far we haven’t had any problems with them. For international, I love Singapore Airlines. Haha.. I wish I could see Ali’s face when his BFF confirmed (what you already told him) that he has no status on USAir 🙂 … Men, they never learned!

Your hair looks gorgeous! Makes me seriously contemplate this hair straightening treatment so I don’t have to subject myself to blow drying and straightening and/or looking like a poofy poodle. I hope you guys are going somewhere fantastic for the holidays (so you can show off your hair)! 🙂

I guess I have to give kudos to my husband here. He never questions me or tries to prove me wrong when I tell him I’ve already looked into something.

It may seem a bit odd to let all those chemicals seep into the pores of your scalp, but I have to agree with the others; the results are phenomenal. You’re gorgeous, though I have a feeling you’d be just as much so without straightened hair.

um non-organic grapes? hmn, risky indeed.
and what is it with these men? Marc suddenly questioned my dinner reservations for our trip this week…I wasn’t aware he knew what a reservation was. Beautiful picture of you and Ali, I would love to know what’s going through your mind when photos are taken. You seem to have a “if only you knew what I am thinking” face. How are NYC plans….how much fun would we have? OK have to go call my BFF at Amex.

Aha, the secret to your fabulous hair is finally out!! You are a lucky (and beautiful) woman, Ameena, your hair is obedient. I can use the heat of the sun on my hair and I’m sure it’ll still make me look like I’ve just had shock treatment!! Also, did you actually listen for those 48 minutes ;-))??

Look at you turning into a wild child, Ameena ;)! Sometimes it’s easier to let others learn the hard way rather than talk them into something…otherwise you may as well hit your head against a brick wall!

I live in a city with a population of about 250,000. The fact that we now have direct flights to at least a few big centres is now is a Big Deal, because it used to be that you ALWAYS used to have to make at least one connection to get anywhere; however, I refuse to fly United (or affiliates), so I pretty much still have to make connections to get anywhere. We do have direct flights to Minneapolis, so we fly Delta a lot. It could be worse for sure, but most airlines eave a lot to be desired in terms of customer service.

My friend tried the super straightening Japanese perm. It’s SO strong, she loved it! She missed her curly hair after a while though, but she had to grow her hair out since the portioned that was straightened was never going back to being curly.. Your hair and you look great in the photo!